Ernst & Young Building

Also known as:

5 Times Square

Also known as:

Five Times Square

This is the traditional blue glass office block made interesting. In keeping with the controversial "Disneyfication" of Times Square, what could have been another boring office building features interesting angles, unusual spandrels, and cartoonish writing for the name of its signature tenant.

The building is a celebration of angles. From the white spandrel-accented sloping channel that runs diagonally up the north side of the building to the very roof, itself, which slopes down from the 40th floor to the 38th in a kind of a spiral. The angles help create the illusion that this is several buildings, not just one. That theme is repeated in other buildings erected as part of the Times Square redevelopment project, as if a city the size of New York needs to pretend to be a city the size of New York. Because of the angles, each floor has a different layout, and the structural supports had to be moved to the outer edge of the building.

> The building was designed by Bill Pedersen.
> The building's exterior has no 90-degree square corners.
> The building has 1,100,000 square feet of rentable space.
> The building rests on 40 caissons placed in sockets in the bedrock. Each is one foot in diameter. This is to keep the weight of the building off of three subway tunnels beneath the building.
> Because of the number and density of subway tunnels, pedestrian tunnels, water mains, and other utilities beneath the building, the electrical vaults had to be located on the third floor.
> Seismographs were installed to detect vibrations that could harm the foundation of the historic New Amsterdam Theater next door. The devices were linked to pagers worn by construction managers to let them know about potential damage to the theater, erected in 1899.
> 2002 - 5 Times Square is named "Best New Construction In New York" by the Building Owners and Managers Association.

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